


A toast to that invincible bunch

by sarahcakes613



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Brunch, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29072376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahcakes613/pseuds/sarahcakes613
Summary: If you ask Sonny and Rafael what they do on the weekends, it wouldn't surprise you to learn it involves mimosas and jogging. What might surprise you is who does what, and with whom.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr., Rita Calhoun/Amanda Rollins
Comments: 10
Kudos: 49





	A toast to that invincible bunch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mgarner1227](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mgarner1227/gifts).



> Here's to you, Mel. I hope your tomorrows are better than your yesterdays. I edited this while snacking on my pretzel M&M's and we are very happy together, and it is all thanks to you! <3

“ _– want you to know that if I did pass, a lot of that's because of the time I spent working with you. I admire your, uh…_ ”

Just as in real life, Sonny’s dream of that moment breaks before he can get the words out, the sharp blaring horn of an alarm piercing the veil of sleep and rousing him.

Sonny slides over Rafael’s side of the bed, arm snaking out of the blankets and fumbling with the alarm clock on his night stand. It’s barely 8:30am on a Saturday, and he can hear Rafael humming in the shower.

The water shuts off and the man himself appears, still humming, as he pulls open drawers and lets his towel drop to the floor.

Sonny enjoys the view from the back, and then Raf turns around and he enjoys the view from the front even more.

“Good morning,” he purrs, and Rafael’s reply is lost in the muffle of fabric as he pulls on a tight long-sleeved shirt and he repeats himself as he sits on the edge of the bed to pull on his jogging pants, so tight they could almost be called leggings.

“Morning, love. How’d you sleep?”

“Alright. I dreamed about the D’Amico case again.”

Rafael smiles fondly at him. “Always chasing that moment, huh?”

Sonny props himself up on one elbow and smiles sleepily as he watches Rafael finish getting dressed. “I don’t know why I keep dreaming about it. I caught you, in the end.”

“Hmm. Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you it wants you to do another kind of running.” He leans down and captures Sonny’s mouth in a soft kiss.

“Not happening,” Sonny flops onto his back, arms spread wide. “You have fun getting sweaty and wheezy, I’m going to spend another hour in bed before getting up.”

“Fine, but I hope you know I fully intend on telling Amanda how much you _loved_ the macaroni art Billie made for us, and how much you really want something you can hang in your office for all the other junior ADAs to admire.”

“You wouldn’t,” Sonny’s eyes narrow. “Because if you do, I’m telling her what really happened to the tie Jesse made for you.”

Rafael’s response is laughter that trails behind him as he leaves the room, and a few minutes later, the front door opens and then latches as he leaves to meet Sonny’s former partner for their regular weekend jogging date.

Sonny burrows deeper into the blankets on Raf’s side, nose deep in the pillow where his scent is strongest. He likely won’t actually fall back asleep, but he’ll doze a while before it’s time for him to shower and leave.

The next time he opens his eyes it’s 9:15am, and he stretches languidly before getting out of bed. He doesn’t linger in the shower, passes a hand across his jawline before deciding he can pass on shaving for another day.

He gets to the bistro at 10am on the dot, but of course Rita’s already there, coolly elegant in a sheath dress, a large mimosa pitcher on the table in front of her. He leans down to kiss the air above her cheek before sitting down across from her.

She looks at him, her gaze steady. “Are we okay?”

This is the first time they’ve met since the mess that was the Gallagher case, and Sonny bites his tongue, because he knows Amanda’s already had it out with her about her choice to take him on as a client.

He doesn’t blame Rita, really, he respects her, even if he barely slept the week of the trial, too caught up in the spiral of trying to unravel his feelings towards a friend versus an opponent.

“Yeah,” he says, reaching over to pour out two flutes full from the pitcher. “We’re okay.”

“Good,” she says shortly.

“Knowing Amanda made you sleep in the guest room for two nights helped a bit.” He smirks at her over his glass and she huffs.

They move on to safer topics, discussing Rita’s efforts to get Jesse on the waitlist of a prestigious day school, the new Netflix documentary series they’ve both been watching, workplace anecdotes – there are fewer of those now that Sonny’s with the DA’s office, too many shared colleagues and neither wants to risk letting something slip that they shouldn’t.

These brunches have become a regular occurrence, happening once, sometimes twice a month, a chance for Sonny and Rita to catch up and gossip while their significant others chase each other around a park.

Sonny had been nonplussed the first time he’d spent the night at Rafael’s only for the other man to wake him up early, tell him where the coffee filters were, and then leave for a morning run. He hadn’t known Rafael was a runner. And then Rafael had come home and smiled so widely at Sonny’s still being there, he’d almost been distracted when Rafael let slip the name of the person he’d gone jogging with.

Because it turns out, his new romantic partner and his then work partner had been jogging buddies for years, had started before Sonny even joined the squad. It had taken some time for him to get used to it, if he’s being honest it’s possible he’d even sulked a bit, until Amanda flicked his nose and told him they had more important things to gossip about than Sonny.

At first the routine had been brunch at Rafael’s, Sonny cooking while the sweaty joggers took turns in the shower, until slowly, one of Rafael’s other surprising habits came to the forefront.

He had casually mentioned to Sonny that he was thinking of inviting Rita to brunch, and Sonny had advised against it, sure that Amanda would balk at the presence of someone who was so often an antagonist in their working life.

Instead, Amanda had blushed, stammered, become downright flustered, when Rita swanned into Rafael’s apartment with a bottle of rosé. Rafael had seemed remarkably unsurprised at her reaction, but when Sonny had asked he’d denied any attempt at matchmaking.

“I just had a feeling they’d hit it off in the right circumstance,” he said.

And now here they all are, some four years later, and the routine has shifted somewhat, the brunches now usually at a bistro or creperie, Rita and Sonny making a dent in the wine before Rafael and Amanda show up, freshly showered and hungry.

“Do you ever think about how weird this is?” Sonny asks, waving his glass to encompass their situation.

Rita tilts her head, considering his question.

“Not really,” she shrugs. “You know by now how small the law community really is, it’s not unusual to be friends with people who play for the other side. Unless you mean do I think it’s weird that Rafa is the one out jogging with my wife while you’re here with me drinking before noon. Which, also no, but only because I’ve known him for twenty years and I stopped being surprised by anything he does a long time ago. You should ask him sometime about the year he decided he was going to be a drummer in a law-themed garage band.”

She smirks as Sonny sputters into his mimosa.

He’s prevented from asking follow-up questions by the arrival of their partners. Rafael has changed into what passes for his idea of weekend casual, and Sonny can tell they’d used his and Raf’s apartment to shower because Amanda’s wearing one of his Fordham t-shirts. He glares at her and she shrugs, unrepentant.

“I didn’t realize the one I’d brought to change into was dirty,” she says.

He harrumphs into a swig of his drink.

A nearby waiter swoops in to take their order and they make casual conversation while they wait for their food to arrive.

Even if Rita doesn’t think it’s weird, even if he should be used to it after four years, Sonny still finds it funny that this is his life now. It’s like the beginning of a joke, three lawyers and a cop walk into a restaurant…but this isn’t a joke, it’s just the extended family he has created for himself, and it’s a refreshing and recharging moment in his schedule, where he doesn’t have to think about caseloads or whatever disasters are awaiting him at work.

And as he watches his boyfriend, watches his best friend and her wife, he thinks about how happy he is in this moment, in the time and space, with these people.


End file.
